Religious Cheerleaders

In this week's class, we focused on Christianity in television. A great example of a show that promotes Christianity is Hellcats. The show is based on a law student, Marti (played by Aly Michalka), who attends Lancer University. She has to join her university's cheerleading squad in order to get a scholarship so she can afford to stay in school. One of her teammates, Savannah (played by Ashley Tisdale) is a devout Christian who has moved out of her religious household because she left her Christian school to join a secular school.

Hellcats heavily promotes Christian values. Throughout the show, we are shown clips of Savannah and her family discussing their religious beliefs and what Savannah is doing is wrong and against their religion. They also talk about how her parents disapprove of her being a cheerleader at a secular school as it as seen as inappropriate. Savannah's younger sister gets pregnant in the show, and there are a lot of discussions about religious beliefs throughout these episodes.

At the beginning of the show, Savannah’s encounters with her family are very awkward, as she had left their household to live at the school dorm. Her parents almost refuse to talk to her, even though she still practices her religious beliefs. They eventually accept her, but they make their expectations of her very clear. One night Savannah brings a boy for dinner to meet her family, and her parents grill him about his religious beliefs. It is obvious they are not fond of the boy, and suggest Savannah go back to dating her very religious ex-boyfriend. 

Lancer’s rival school is Memphis Christian, who also has a cheerleading squad. However, their uniforms are much more conservative. They do not show any midriff, and their tops are full sleeved instead of sleeveless – clearly showing that you can still be a cheerleader without having to show off your skin.  

It is interesting to see the conflict in the show - having cheerleaders, who are usually portrayed very sexually, versus a highly Christian family, who look down upon secular schools and their cheerleading squad.